Journal
Short notes on pause points, empty-handed exits, till hours, and how to brief a shift before someone sits down with a notebook.
These pieces are written from work in Tbilisi rooms. They are not a substitute for sitting in your own doorway.
Reading a receipt pile without drowning in it
A fortnight of ordinary paper is more useful than a holiday week. How we sort till tape for a visit pattern review when the files arrive in a bag.
What a pause at a shelf actually tells you
A hand that hovers is not the same as a hand that will buy. How we mark pauses on a Tbilisi floor without turning shoppers into a story they did not agree to.
Saturday versus Wednesday in a Vera café
The same pastry case can feed a neighbourhood morning and a visiting afternoon. Mixing those hours on one till total hides the quieter trade you actually depend on.
Loyalty stamps miss the people who never join
Stamp cards describe the already-convinced. The empty-handed exit at the door is a different person, and a briefing that only praises repeat names will not hear them.
Briefing the shift before a notebook arrives
A watcher who is a secret becomes the only story in the shop. What we ask owners to say on the Monday before observation days, in Georgian or in English.